Colorado Court of Appeals: Man Can Build Road Through Neighbors’ Properties

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The decision caps a bitter 11-year battle between the satellite-TV mogul and homeowners adjacent to his Telluray Ranch
By Greg Griffin

The Denver Post

RISMEDIA, April 22 ? (KRT) ? Charlie Ergen, perhaps Colorado’s richest man, can build a road through his neighbors’ properties to access his 6,200-acre cattle ranch in rural Ouray County, the Colorado Court of Appeals has affirmed.

The decision caps a bitter 11-year battle between the satellite-TV mogul and homeowners adjacent to his Telluray Ranch. Though the case is settled because the neighbors have decided to end their appeals, bad blood remains.

“From the get-go, this case has been pure harassment of the homeowners” by Telluray, said attorney John Steel, who represented property owners in the Lazy Dog Ranch development west of Ridgway. “We’ve spent years of effort and hundreds of thousands of dollars for nothing.” Telluray is a working cattle ranch between the Uncompahgre and San Juan national forests amid rugged peaks and river valleys of southwest Colorado. Other officials in EchoStar Communications Corp., Ergen’s publicly traded company, may have an ownership interest in the ranch owned and operated by Telluray Ranch Corp. Ergen is listed as its president.

A call to Ergen’s lawyer about last week’s court ruling was not returned. A EchoStar spokesman did not comment.

Discontent began soon after Ergen bought Telluray in 1991. Telluray put gates on a road that passed through the ranch to the Lazy Dog properties, according to court records. The Lazy Dog residents sued and won. In 1994, Telluray removed the gates.

But later that year, crews from Telluray began clearing a roadway along an easement through the 530-acre Lazy Dog development. Again, the Lazy Dog property owners sued.

A Ouray County District Court judge dismissed the suit in 1995. The Colorado Supreme Court sent it back for a bench trial in 1998. In 2003, Telluray won the right to build a 16-foot-wide road through Lazy Dog to link parts of Telluray. Lazy Dog appealed parts of the ruling.

The judge admonished both parties for an inability to resolve their differences and assigned two special masters to oversee the road’s construction and devise a plan for its use.

“The parties have a long and difficult history in their dealings with each other,” Ouray County District Judge Dennis Friedrich wrote. They “have been unable to work together in any way whatsoever.” Ergen, estimated to have a net worth of $7.2 billion, owns several southwest Colorado ranches.

Copyright ? 2005, The Denver Post

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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